WINSTED, MN  McLeod County could soon offer the City of Winsted a deal that would be difficult to turn down, the city council learned at its regular meeting Tuesday.

The county wants to turnback County Road 116 (Third Street and Fourth Street) which runs north and south through Winsted, according to Bolton & Menk city engineer Jake Saulsbury. To see a diagram of the roads and work planned, click here.

If the city is willing to accept the ownership of the road and maintain it in the future, McLeod County is proposing to upgrade the road, storm sewer, and add a sidewalk as part of the turnback project, Saulsbury said.

It was at a McLeod County workshop a few weeks ago that Saulsbury was asked by the county engineer to complete the proposal as a 2010 project.

Saulsbury told the council the project would include an overlay of County Road 116. In addition, the southern portion of the road from Sherman Avenue West to Baker Avenue would include curb and gutter.

Storm sewers, which Saulsbury called “very old structures falling apart,” are to be replaced at county expense, as well as the addition of a sidewalk.

“A couple of intersections, where there are 4-inch water main, we proposed upgrading those to 8 inches at city cost,” Saulsbury said.

Saulsbury estimates the entire project to cost $714,593. The estimated county project costs would be $579,831 and the city’s estimated cost would be $134,762.

The proposed project could not have come at a better time for Terry Ohm, who lives at 460 Fourth Street.

Ohm told the council during the open forum she is afraid of her home flooding. “There are only two water drains on Fourth Street,” Ohm said. “When it rains a lot, those drains get backed up and we have a river between the Teleckys’ home and mine. When they added to the school (Winsted public school), it has affected us even more.”

When the Ohms first moved to their home on Fourth Street, the first year they had flooding in their basement, but later built the property up around their home to keep the water out. So far they haven’t had water in the basement again, but Ohm is afraid it will happen if something isn’t done.

City Administrator Brent Mareck said the city’s storm water system on Fourth Street was one of three areas the council had looked at in the past as needing to be fixed, but it was tabled by the council at the time.

Saulsbury told the council the storm water problem on Fourth Street could be fixed with the county turnback project.

“That would be appreciated,” Ohm said.

When the turnback project proposal is completed by Saulsbury and approved by the county, it will be brought to the council for its approval, Saulsbury said.